Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean, just one of nine candidates seeking the nomination to take on President Bush in the 2004 election, is shown speaking with the media following a Democratic Presidential debate on Oct. 26, 2003, at the Fox Theater in Detroit. To go with story US-LXN-DEMOCRATS. (UPI/John Martin)

John Martin & Co. Ltd, colloquially known as John Martin's or simply Johnnies, was an Adelaide-based company which ran a popular chain of department stores in South Australia. It operated for more than 130 years, from 1866 until its closure in 1998. Johnnies, owned by the prominent Hayward family for the majority of its existence, became an Adelaide icon, responsible for the famous Adelaide Christmas Pageant.

John Martin's was a respected "middle market" retailer, with a reputation for quality, range and value. Indeed, for many years, their claim was that they were the "Big Store" in Rundle Street- Adelaide's major shopping precinct.

They had business links with other major regional department store retailers (Sydney's Grace Brothers and Tasmania's FitzGerald's) with joint ownership of the "Intercontinental Buying Group". This was in an era when Australian department store retailing was largely State based.

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